Two small towns in southwestern North Dakota are set to receive nearly $15 million through a federal funding program that aims to speed up siting and permitting for electric transmission projects while also supporting economic development efforts in communities the power lines would travel through.
Mott (population: 653) was allocated $14.2 million for a new community center, while Amidon (population: 24) is set to receive just over $700,000 for improvements to its fire department facilities.
Mott and Amidon are both along the path of the North Plains Connector, a proposed 415-mile high voltage direct current power line that would run between Colstrip, Montana, and Center, North Dakota. The North Plains Connector is being developed by Minnesota-based electrical services company Allete Inc. and Texas-based company Grid United. The line would connect the eastern and western grids, and have the capability to send power to either direction.
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The federal Department of Energy announced a separate $700 million for the line in late July as part of its Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships.
Funding for the community investments comes from the Energy Department’s Transmission Siting and Economic Development Program, a $760 million initiative within the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022. This grant round doles out $371 million for 20 projects across 16 states.
Part of getting more clean energy connected to the grid — one of the broader goals of the IRA — involves building a lot more transmission. The push requires bringing the electricity from, and across, numerous rural areas to population centers where much of the power demand comes from.
To meet clean energy goals, the U.S. will need to up its level of transmission to 60% by 2030 and possibly have a grid three times larger than what it already is by 2050, according to the Energy Department.
Rising electricity demands and aging infrastructure are also fueling the buildout. The North Plains Connector would take on all forms of electricity.
But building out the lines can at times be politically fraught, and local opposition has contributed to slowing or killing projects.
“This is one more piece in that overall puzzle by getting communities really invested in the idea of transmission by helping them see tangible effects through economic development,” Maria Robinson, director of the DOE’s Grid Deployment Office, said on a call with reporters in July.
Mott
Commercial Bank of Mott President Charlotte Aldinger spearheaded the grant application for her town’s proposed 28,000-square-foot Cannonball Community Center. The city and the school will also be part of the center’s development, she said. For comparison on size, the Bismarck Event Center’s Exhibit Hall is around 100,000 square feet.
The community center will be used for various purposes including sports, local gatherings and as a shelter during severe weather, while also featuring a gymnasium and a kitchen. The center will be open to all ages.
One use that Aldinger said she is particularly excited about is the prospect of hosting more basketball and volleyball games locally.
“You can only do so much with our facilities, so we thought we’d put our name in the hat,” she said. “They’re really helping us in rural America.”
Amidon
The Roosevelt Custer Regional Council will help expand the Amidon Fire Department’s fire hall, enabling it to house more equipment in bad weather and reduce fire response time.
Richard Frederick, chief of Amidon’s fire station and the emergency manager for Slope County, said expanding the fire hall will allow the department to do more work and repairs on its trucks. The station serves a small community, and does mutual aid with others like it in the county which sports a population of around 700 people.
Frederick said there are mixed views locally on the proposed power line, but the community is excited about the investment in the fire station.
“We’re kind of the first and last line of defense for fire because we’re so rural,” he said.
Energy Department officials did not address questions about how many applications there were on the call with reporters and declined a Tribune request for a list of applicants but described the application process as “competitive.”
The projects will have to break ground within the next two years to receive the cash. Former President Donald Trump has said he would likely seek to do away with at least some elements of the Inflation Reduction Act if elected, but officials said projects receiving money from the Transmission Siting and Economic Development Program are unlikely to be at risk of losing funding.
“Once we sign the contract, the money will be obligated and that makes it very difficult to change direction,” Robinson said.
